More than 1,600 black American high school seniors have been designated semifinalists in the 49th annual National Achievement Scholarship Program by National Merit Scholarship Corporation and one of them is a student at Bartow’s International Baccalaureate School.

That is Terrence J. Commons.

The students now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 800 Achievement Scholarship awards worth more than $2.5 million that will be offered next spring.

To be considered for a National Achievement Scholarship, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 80 percent of Semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win an Achievement Scholarship award.

More than 160,000 high school juniors requested consideration in the 2013 National Achievement Scholarship Program when they took the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists are designated within geographic regions and are the highest-scoring program entrants in the states that make up each region.

To advance to the finalist level in the competition, the semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application in which they provide information about the student’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, and educational goals. Semifinalists must present a record of high academic performance throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm their psat/nmsqt performance.

The names of scholarship winners to news media in early April.

Retreat set Oct. 1

The School Board plans to discuss its strategic plan at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 1 at the Jim Miles Professional Development Center, 5204 U.S. Highway 98 S., Lakeland.